Welcome to my second foray into the world of restaurant reviewing. I don’t visit this category very often, but when I do it normally makes me feel hungry.

Nandos is a multinational chain that started in South Africa and seems intent on attaining complete world domination at some point as it’s expanding nationally. (Apparently the first one in the UK opened at Ealing Common in 1992, I could be wrong but I think there are over 160 in the UK now!) They also sell sauces and recipes online, but I’m going to just deal with the restaurant here.

I was introduced to Nandos through some South African friends, one of whom I’m now married to. (Just as well there was only one restaurant I was introduced to by South African friends or who knows where we’d be!??!) I’ve now spent a considerable part of my life visiting them, and have been to quite a different ones – Hounslow and Uxbridge in London; Star City, Broad Street, and The Bull Ring in Birmingham, and more recently one in bonny Glasgow (which I have to say was by far the best one I’ve been to).

If indeed the prophecy comes true and one day we are attacked by angry Chicken Invaders from space (see http://www.darscom.net/chicken_invaders.html), Nandos will be one of the first places on their hit-lists. If you don’t like chicken, don’t bother going to Nandos. It’s true that you can get preggo (steak) at some restaurants and they do salads as well, but with the vast majority of their dishes consisting of flame-grilled chicken, there’s not much to recommend Nandos if you don’t eat chicken at all. However if you do, you’ll find much to enjoy in Nandos. The flame-grilled taste is really good and also quite healthy, as much of the fat drips out of the chicken before it gets to you. The chicken is basted in their speciality sauce, which comes in four heats – lemon & herb, medium, hot, and very hot. The spice comes, not from chilli, but from peri-peri, a type of pepper grown principally in Mozambique. This has a very distinctive flavour as well as being hot, and is becoming increasingly popular in the UK. Some of the restaurants serve halal meat, which is obviously a bonus for certain ethnic groups and isn’t a problem to anyone else. However check your local Nandos first as not all of them do this.


You can have your chicken in quarters, as a breast burger in a roll or pitta bread, as wings. There are several “platters” that allow you to combine the chicken with side orders and drinks. The side orders available are chips, peri-peri chips (dusted with peri-peri powder), spicy rice, corn on the cob (also flame-grilled), or coleslaw (not bad but a bit too much mayonnaise – well under normal circumstances any mayonnaise is too much, but you know what I mean). There are also Portuguese rolls (crusty bread rolls), garlic breads, and pitta bread to add to your meal, as well as various salads. (Don’t go for the salads with chicken in, you’re much better off going for a salad and getting the chicken separately. Trust me on this.) The normal salad is a bit boring, the cous-cous salad is quite a new phenomena I haven’t tried, and Mediterranean salad which is what I normally go for, which is normal salad plus feta cheese and olives. The salads are a little dry but at least the lettuce is green not brown, and is served with a rather vinegary dressing (in a sealed container). There are 5 sauces available (in addition to tomato sauce, which never gets a look in for us compared to the others!); Garllic, Medium / Hot / Very Hot peri-peri, and Wild Herb (our favourite – great taste with quite a kick ).


Starters are mixed olives (with garlic and peppers), peri-peri nuts (mixed nuts dusted in peri-peri powder), and bell peppers. Desserts are admittedly a bit disappointing, with a small choice of mildly appetising cakes and puddings, as well as bottomless frozen yogurt. As far as drinks go, they do some pretty decent wines, and if you’re feeling adventurous their sangria is very nice. They also offer 3 different beers, which aren’t at all bad. The soft drinks (£1.60) are bottomless, and they have coke, diet coke, fanta, and sprite on tap. If you want to save a bit of money and be a bit healthier, you can ask for a jug of water, which they don’t charge for.

The service does vary quite considerably from place to place but is generally good. They are friendly, especially if they recognise you (which the Star City staff definitely do by now!), and usually very helpful. The layout is quite cluttered and cramped, especially in some of the older restaurants – the Glasgow one is evidently quite new and much better laid out than the others I’ve seen. You go up to the till and place your order, which is then brought to your table. Really it’s half-way between a fast food joint and a “proper” restaurant – though eating with your hands is not frowned upon and actually encouraged, which places it nearer the fast foot end I guess. The prices are also about midway – a good meal in Nandos will usually cost you between £7 and £12, depending what you have, though you could eat more cheaply than that if you didn’t eat much. Sometimes it’s easier to eat more cheaply if you have more people due to the platters available – the Jumbo Platter, for instance, is two whole chickens with chips / rice and some side dishes for about £35, and could easily feed 4 or more people. You get plates / cutlery / sauces and bring them to your table, the same with drinks and yoghurt if you have those.

There are smoking and non-smoking areas, though really there’s nothing to stop the smoke from travelling between them. As it’s a popular venue for kids and families, it does tend to be quite noisy which can get annoying. There’s normally something salsa-oriented or African popular music playing in the background, which is fine, but the noise of the people gets a bit much. Despite this we still go frequently, partly as it’s a convenient location for us, but mainly because the food is so nice and the prices are very reasonable. It’s not somewhere to go for a romantic date, though I’ve seen plenty of couples there who look in a romantic mood, so who knows? It’s a lively, upbeat atmosphere which is good, but you do have to be in the mood for it , and it’s no good if you want to have a quiet conversation.

There is a loyalty card scheme whereby you get it stamped each time you buy a meal worth £4.95 or more. (This scheme is not exactly actively promoted, and some stores won’t have a supply, so ask and you might receive. Even if they don’t have any cards, they’ll be happy to stamp the one you have.) The third time you get your card stamped you’ll get ¼ chicken free, ½ chicken the 6th time, and a free whole chicken the tenth time – you don’t need to buy a meal the tenth time if you don’t want to either. (This is the current scheme, it may change periodically.)

Overall we go to Nandos very frequently but it’s not 5 star, because of the noisy atmosphere and the limited range of options if you don’t like chicken. Then again, if you don’t, you’d probably not be very interested in going anyway. So, my rating is 4 stars, and I think you’ll know by now whether it’s the sort of place you’d like to go.

Watch out though as Nandos may very well take over the world within the next two decades!!


My other restaurant review can be found here (Old Orleans)



Nearly forgot - thanks John for adding this to the database for me.


Recommended: Yes